A recent HR professional asked Liz Ryan how to “punch up a resume summary.” While I agree with Liz that you need to “differentiate” yourself from other professionals in order to get noticed, especially in today’s job market, I think the best way to do this is to tell those who read your resume about the results you have achieved.
How do you do this? I recommend you tell them about your top three related accomplishments and do it in a way that quantifies the impact you had on the business, preferably in terms of profits, revenues, or costs. As an example, I’ve provided a possible introductory paragraph for my own resume so you can see what I mean.
“Talent management expert with a track record for improving company profits and performance through recruitment, assessment, and development of high performers. Accomplishments include enabling an Early-stage Enterprise Software Company to increase sales 15% by recruiting their first VP Global Account Management, enabling a Global 1000 corporation to identify those best suited to take over the CEO’s responsibilities through design and delivery of an assessment center, and increasing channel sales 23.5% for a Global HR Consulting Firm through recruitment, training, and education programs.”
You will note the first and third accomplishments are quantified in terms of percent increases, but the second is a qualified accomplishment. I did this for illustrative purposes only. Personally, I think you are better off with quantifiable accomplishments because it allows your resume reader to estimate the impact you might have on their business using the same numbers, and if your numbers look better than most resumes they read I’m sure you will get a call. However, some things are not easily quantified. In these cases I think it is best to focus more on scope and qualifying the strategic impact.
If you would like to see more of my resume writing advice visit my Blog at http://wp.me/pCoHk-3. To get my cover letter writing advice, and a sample cover letter, visit http://wp.me/pCoHk-v.
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